Chris Packham has accused Taylor Swift of failing to use her “tremendous power” to help the environment, and called on her fans to convince her to stop using private jets.
The 34-year-old pop megastar has drawn criticism for her use of private planes to fly around the world, including for stops on her Eras Tour or to visit boyfriend Travis Kelce, including a 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Las Vegas to watch the Super Bowl.
She has been criticized for excessive travel habit due to her plane’s unavoidable release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is extremely harmful to the environment.
Taylor’s team has insisted that she lends out her jet so not all the travel is down to her and that she has purchased double the amount of carbon offsets to offset her flights.
However, carbon offsets have been criticized as their effectiveness varies enormously and several people have pointed out that this is the ‘bare minimum’ for anyone to offset flights, meaning a billionaire like Taylor should be expected to maintains a high standard.
Chris Packham (pictured) has accused Taylor Swift of not using her ‘tremendous power’ to help the environment, and called on her fans to convince her to stop using private jets
The 34-year-old pop megastar has been widely criticized for her use of private planes to fly around the world, including for her Eras Tour or to visit boyfriend Travis Kelce (pictured on Friday)
She has been criticized for excessive travel habit due to her plane’s unavoidable release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is extremely harmful to the environment (photo boarding jet in October)
Springwatch star Chris, 63, has made a similar argument, suggesting that with all the increased attention on Taylor’s emissions, she could use the opportunity to be an outspoken advocate for more sustainable travel.
Speak with The mirror, he said, “I think Taylor Swift has tremendous power. She speaks to an audience that will have significant problems in their lives due to climate collapse and biodiversity loss.
“And she should be at the forefront of trying to make their future safer and more sustainable. What a missed opportunity. Actually, you should say, “You know what, thanks for pointing it out. I’m going to switch to flying commercial airplanes.’
Chris insisted he wasn’t telling her not to travel around for her tour, but that she could take steps to be more environmentally friendly.
He suggested that Taylor’s own fans, nicknamed Swifties, could be the ones to convince her by displaying banners at her concerts asking her to stop using private planes.
He said: “We all accept that she should travel the world – we are not saying she should stop touring. We say: do it in the most environmentally friendly way possible.
“Wouldn’t it be great if all those 16-year-olds came to the concert with banners that said, ‘Drop your private jets’?”
Taylor’s use of private jets gained increasing attention after student Jack Sweeney spent months tracking the whereabouts of her plane during her Eras tour.
Springwatch star Chris, 63, has suggested that with all the increased attention on Taylor’s emissions, she could take the opportunity to be a vocal advocate for more sustainable travel
He suggested that Taylor’s own fans, nicknamed Swifties, could be the ones to convince her by displaying banners at her concerts asking her to stop using private planes (fans pictured in Edinburgh on Friday)
The social media star – who also follows the flights of tech billionaire Elon Musk – previously claimed that Taylor’s private jet use emitted 83x the amount of CO2 than the average American.
He tweeted: ‘Swift’s two private jets flew 288,000 kilometers in 2023, equivalent to flying around the Earth seven times, emitting 1,200 tonnes of CO2. That’s 83 times as much as the average American.’
however, the The Tortured Poets Department star sent Jack a cease-and-desist letter and demanded she stop recording her flights.
She claimed the stories had caused ‘direct and irreparable harm, as well as emotional and physical distress’ to herself and her family and had increased her ‘constant state of fear for her personal safety’.
But Jack’s lawyers pointed out that he had done “nothing illegal” and that his accounts use publicly available data and also share estimates of Earth’s emissions.
In a letter back they wrote: ‘Furthermore, the alarm in your letter is unfounded. Our client’s website only displays the location of private jets based on publicly available information. That information does not pose a threat to Ms. Swift’s safety.”
Chris previously said that Taylor had also squandered that opportunity to send a message about sustainability.
He noted that because the hitmaker has a “predominantly young audience” and is such a prominent cultural figure, she should “take the lead” on such matters.
Taylor’s use of private jets gained increasing attention after student Jack Sweeney spent months tracking the whereabouts of her plane during her Eras tour (pictured)
The social media star – who also follows the flights of tech billionaire Elon Musk – previously claimed that Taylor’s private jet use emitted 83x the amount of CO2 than the average American (pictured on Friday)
However, the star of The Tortured Poets Department sent Jack a cease and desist order, demanding she stop recording her flights
He told The mirror: ‘We know that private jets make the largest contribution when it comes to aviation fuel and are the least efficient because they carry one person.
‘And thus [Jack] her exclaimed and she threatened to sue him. And I just thought, “You really missed the trick there, Taylor.”
“What you should have said is, ‘You’re right, times have moved on. I have to change my practice. I’m going to sell my private jets.’ And that would have been so powerful for her to say to an audience.”
It comes as Taylor kicked off the UK leg of her tour in Edinburgh last week and now heads to Liverpool, Cardiff and Wembley.
The Cruel Summer star landed in Scotland on her private jet at a VIP airport in Edinburgh on Friday, ahead of performances at Murrayfield Stadium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.
Devoted fans queued from 3am, braving the miserable Scottish weather for hours and pitching tents.
Chris previously said that Taylor had also squandered that opportunity to send a message about sustainability, saying that as a prominent cultural figure with “predominantly a young audience” she should take the lead on such matters.
It comes as Taylor kicked off the UK leg of her tour in Edinburgh last week (pictured), and now heads to Liverpool, Cardiff and Wembley.
